Traditionally, television and newspaper media have provided the major sources of advertising and product promotions for the consumer. Clipping redeemable coupons from newspapers and trade publications is a matter of common household practice. This requires that the coupon be clipped from the newspaper or the publication and presented for redemption at a particular store or location.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,981 issued to Degasperi et al on Mar. 24, 1992, consumer redemption of redeemable coupons has steadily decreased in recent years. This decrease in consumer redemption has prompted some manufacturers and advertising establishments to turn to other means of promotion, the most notable of which is the point-of-sale (POS) or point-of-purchase (POP) advertising. Both POS and POP advertising methods contemplate the distribution of redeemable coupons at the source of sale and distribution of the product. According to the statistics revealed in said patent, these methods have resulted in "300-600% increase in product movement typically experienced in the day of an in-store product demonstration." Encouraged by these statistics, retailers have been motivated to develop a coupon dispenser for dispensing product redemption coupons in retail stores and supermarkets where the dispenser is displayed on the store shelf featuring the product. One such dispenser, referred to in said Degasperi et al patent as the point-of-purchase coupon dispenser (POP-CD), is described in that patent. As described therein, the POP-CD comprises a coupon storage compartment, coupons, coupon exit means, means for ejecting the coupon from the compartment, an audio/visual means (a buzzer or a blinking light) for attracting the attention of the consumer and an activation mechanism having "consumer sensing means" which senses the presence of a consumer. The consumer sensing means is operatively connected to both the audio/visual means and the means for ejecting the coupons. Thus, when the presence of the consumer is sensed by the consumer sensing means, both the audio/visual means and the coupon ejection means are activated and the coupon is thus dispensed from the dispenser. The dispenser is shut off when the consumer steps away so that the consumer sensing means can no longer sense her or his presence.
Other coupon dispensing machines are known and described in several patents. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,260,402; 4,039,181; 4,530,200; and 4,717,043.
The prior art coupon dispensers, however, are either complicated and expensive to construct or difficult and unreliable to operate. Thus, the need still exists for a simple, compact and reliable coupon dispenser.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a coupon dispenser which can be used for dispensing product promotional coupons for redemption by the consumer at the point of purchase.
It is another object of this invention to provide a compact coupon dispenser which can be conveniently installed on a shelf in a retail store and which dispenses redemption coupons by simply pressing a button visibly located on one of the exterior surfaces of the dispenser.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a coupon dispenser in combination with a mounting means for securely mounting the dispenser on a shelf in the retail store.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a coupon dispenser in combination with a mounting plate wherein the mounting plate has a surface comprising one or more suction sups adapted to securely grip the surface on which the dispenser is mounted.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated from the ensuing detailed description thereof together with the accompanying drawings.